Richard Lee Metcalfe (October 11, 1861 – March 31, 1954) was an American politician and editor who was the last military Governor of Panama Canal Zone and one-time Mayor of Omaha, Nebraska.

[1] Metcalfe was born on October 11, 1861, to Richard Lee Metcalfe and Ellen Tazewell Edwards.

[1] He began his career as an editor at the Omaha World-Herald, where he also authored a biography of William Jennings Bryan.

Metcalfe ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Nebraska in the 1912 election but lost to John H. Morehead.

He died on March 31, 1954, in Omaha, Nebraska.